Progressive/LGBT Activists Debate Elena Kagan

President Obama Nominates Elana Kagan for Supreme Court

Obama's choice of the current Solicitor General to replace justice Stevens on the Supreme Court is getting mixed reviews from progressives. Many were hoping for a bolder choice of a real progressive. Kagan is considered to be a moderate on many issues and perhaps conservative on issues like executive power. It is feared that anything less than a strong progressive would move the Court to the right.

LGBT activists are somewhat more supportive, though no one knows for certain if she will be a strong advocate for LGBT civil rights. She did oppose military recruitment as Dean of Harvard because of the military's discrimination policies against gays and lesbians. There is even some speculation that Kagan may be a lesbian, leading some gay activists to call for her to come out openly if she is gay, which could further complicate her confirmation.

The problem is that Kagan does not have much of a public record or written history for opponents or supporters to analyze. She has no judicial experience or written opinions to scrutinize. So far, the only thing right-wing opponents have come up with his her undergraduate thesis on the history of the Socialist Party, which seems to blame infighting among socialists for the demise of the SP in the United States.

6 Things You Might Not Know About Kagan

Norman Solomon, Kagan In Context: Shafting Progressive Values

Glenn Greenwald, The Case Against Elena Kagan

Elana Kagan Will Move Court to the Right

Gay Activists Applaud Kagan--Tepidly

Gay Marriage Opponents Mobilize Against Kagan

Kagan's Role Against Military Recruitment

Goodbye Democracy--Hello Fascism!

Kiss democracy goodbye! By a 5-4 decision, the conservative Supreme Court justices have ruled that coprorations are entitled to the same rights as real people, rolling back restrictions on corporate spending on political campaigns. Corporations now control our government. They control both political parties, and have killed healthcare reform and will kill financial reform and legislation to save our environment from their pollution.

Welcome to fascism, brought to you by the Republican Party, and their corporate allies in the Democratic Party and the corporate controlled media. When will the American people wake up and take back our government?

I agree with many of the "tea party" protesters, but they have been duped into supporting the corporatocracy (e.g, insurance companies). The enemy is not "big government," it is government owned and controlled by the corporate rich. If tea-baggers would like to join us on the left and protest the corporate takeover of our government, we can work for a real revolution.

Supreme Court Rolls Back Corporate Campaign Finance Restrictions

In a related note, Air America radio is shutting down today... it is filing chapter 7 bankcruptcy, so the total control of the media, especially radio, by the neo-fascist radical right is almost complete.

Fascism and the Corporate State

Move to Amend!

Funny that the Supreme Court ruled that there is no "freedom of speech" in the case of broadcasting the Prop. 8 court case in California, but that corporations are "people" endowed with the "freedom of speech" to spend all they want to influence elections.

Gay Rights Groups Say No Thanks to Ted Olsen

Gay Rights Groups Say Thanks, but No Thanks, to Ted Olsen

Why do gay rights groups NOT want the conservative lawyer to challenge Prop. 8 before the Supreme Court? They are afraid the challenge will fail and be a further set back for the LGBT movement. They may have a point, but I sure would like to see Prop. 8 challenged in the SCOTUS. Is Ted Olsen, a right-winger, really trying to help us or does he have sinister motive?

Theodore Olsen and David Boies, Bush v Gore Lawyers, Join Forces to Challenge Prop. 8

Gay Marriage Focus of Conservative Attacks on Supreme Court Nominee

Gay Marriage Supplants Abortion as Social Priority for Conservatives

Looks like Obama's first Supreme Court nominee will be squeezed for their opinion on the legality of same-sex marriage.

Conservatives Map Strategy on Court Fight

RNC Chief: Gay Marriage Will Burden Small Business

Growing Acceptance of Gay Rights Helps Democrats

Dems: Opportunities as Acceptance of Gay Marriage Grows

WASHINGTON — Gay marriage legalization in several states and the public's growing acceptance of same-sex unions have Democrats sensing political opportunity and some Republicans re-evaluating their party's hard-line opposition to an issue that long has rallied its base.

In recent weeks, Vermont and Iowa have legalized same-sex marriage, while New York, Maine and New Hampshire have taken steps in that direction. Polls show younger Americans are far are more tolerant on the issue than are older generations. For now at least, the public is much more focused on the troubled economy and two wars than on social issues.

In addition, over the past decade, public acceptance of gay marriage has changed dramatically.

A Quinnipiac University poll released last week found that a majority of people questioned, by a 55-38 percent margin, oppose gay marriage. But it also found that people, by a 57-38 percent margin, support civil unions that would provide marriage-like rights for same-sex couples, indicating a shift toward more acceptance.

With congressional elections next year, Republicans, Democrats and nonpartisan analysts say the changes benefit Democrats, whose bedrock liberals favor gay unions, and disadvantage Republicans, whose conservative base insists that marriage be solely between a man and a woman.
Democrats have a broader base filled with more accepting younger voters, as well as flexibility on the issue. Hard-core liberals support gay marriage, while others, including President Barack Obama, take a more moderate position of civil unions and defer to states on gay marriage.

Conversely, the GOP base is older, smaller and more conservative. Republicans have no place to shift on the issue but to the left, because the party has been identified largely with its rock-solid opposition to gay marriage and civil unions...

Poll: US Supports Most "Gay Rights"

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This may be a good time for Obama to appoint a LESBIAN Constitutional scholar to the Supreme Court: Kathleen Sullivan!

"Activist" Supreme Court Judges Overturn D.C. Gun Ban

The NRA and Gun Nuts across the U.S. are celebrating the horrible Supreme Court Decision on Guns today.

In a 5-4 decision, the Supreme Court overturned the Washington D.C. ban on handguns, ruling that the Second Amendment (which clearly refers to a "well regulated militia"!), guarantees individuals the right to own firearms for "security." Remember, conservatives usually argue that the Constitution should be interpreted LITERALLY according to the "original intent" of the authors, but NOT in the case of guns and the second amendment. The authors clearly were addressing the right of the states to have MILITIAS (since they opposed a standing national military in peace time). Only "activist" judges could re-interpret the Second Amendment to affirm a right for individuals to own semi-automatic weapons or handguns!

As expected, most politicians, Democrat and Republican, praised the decision so as not to offend the gun nuts.

There is only one national organization trying to fight the NRA's takeover of the United States, The Brady Campaign, along with most law enforcement groups and many mayors across the country.

Here's the statement of the Brady Campaign on the Supreme Court Ruling

UPDATE:
More Than Half Firearm Deaths are Suicides:
* Suicides accounted for 55 petcent of 31,000 firearm deaths in 2005 in the U.S.
* More gun-related suicides than homocides and accidents in 20 of last 25 years.
* Research shows if gun in homes, higher likelihood of suicide or homocide in the home

NRA Gathering Ammo Against Obama
No matter how much Obama or any Democratic presidential candidate says they support the "right to bear arms", the NRA will convince millions of gun nuts that he/she is out to take away their guns.

Gun Control: Let the Debate Begin